Microsoft's Software is Malware

Malware means software designed to function in ways that
mistreat or harm the user. (This does not include accidental errors.)
This page explains how Microsoft software is malware.

Malware and nonfree software are two different issues. The difference
between free software and
nonfree software is in
whether the users have control of the program or vice versa. It's
not directly a question of what the program does when it
runs. However, in practice nonfree software is often malware,
because the developer's awareness that the users would be powerless to fix
any malicious functionalities tempts the developer to impose some.

You might well decide to let a security service that you trust
remotely deactivate programs that it considers malicious.
But there is no excuse for deleting the programs, and you
should have the right to decide who (if anyone) to trust in this way.

Microsoft Insecurity

These bugs are/were not intentional, so unlike the rest of the file
they do not count as malware. We mention them to refute the
supposition that prestigious proprietary software doesn't have grave
bugs.

Microsoft Sabotage

The wrongs in this section are not precisely malware, since they do
not involve making the program that runs in a way that hurts the user.
But they are a lot like malware, since they are technical Microsoft
actions that harm to the users of specific Microsoft software.

Of course, Windows 7 and 8 are unethical too, because they are
proprietary software. But this example of Microsoft's wielding its
power demonstrates the power it holds.

Free software developers also stop maintaining old versions of
their programs, but this is not unfair to users because the
users of free software have control over it. If it is important
enough to you, you and other users can hire someone to support
the old version on your future platforms.

A person or company has the right to cease to work on a
particular program; the wrong here is Microsoft does this after having
made the users dependent on Microsoft, because they are not free to ask
anyone else to work on the program for them.

Microsoft Interference

Various proprietary programs often mess up the user's system. They are like sabotage, but they are not grave enough to qualify
for the word “sabotage”. Nonetheless, they are nasty and wrong. This section describes examples of Microsoft committing
interference.

A downgrade to Windows 10 deleted surveillance-detection
applications. Then another downgrade inserted a general spying
program. Users noticed this and complained, so Microsoft
renamed it
to give users the impression it was gone.

Microsoft Tyrants

Microsoft accidentally left a way for users to install GNU/Linux
on Windows RT tablets, but now it has
“fixed” the “error”. They have the
gall to call this “protecting” the users. The article
talks of installing “Linux”, but the context shows it is
really GNU/Linux that users
install.